The Wishing Tree

Kindergarten is really about working with entire families, not just children alone, and we love having parents involved in our class community. It was wonderful to see so many families visit our Open House event last week.

When teachers welcome students on the first day, we have no expectations or notions of who they might be...all of that is in the future. In a way, our students are blank slates to us. Yet when we pause to consider, we recognize the children have a past that has shaped them, and a family who loves them dearly.

They are not blank slates at all, but vessels of a family's love, hopes, and dreams.

To help mark the beginning of our time together, we offered a provocation for our first collaborative art project. We felt it was important to honour all the wishes, goals, and hopes our class parents have for their children.

On the day of the Open House, Sharon took a group of children to the Green Classroom to collect sticks and leaves. The sticks were arranged in a vase to form the Wishing Tree, and the children used the leaves as templates to make their own leaves.

During the evening Open House visit, we invited parents to write their wishes and hopes for their children on a leaf and to hang it on the tree.

As Sharon and I read the wishes at the end of the night, we were touched by the pride our parents have in their children. As we move forward in our journey together, the Wishing Tree will serve to remind us of the special place each child has in their families and in our class.